For many Indian tycoons, 2019 turned woeful as lenders -- empowered by the nation’s recent bankruptcy law and desperate to clean up soured debt from their books -- started seizing assets of delinquent firms or dragged them into insolvency.
Indian banks wrote off a record $39 billion of loans in the 18 months through September in a bid to repair their balance sheets as they battled the world’s worst bad debt pile. Making matters worse, a shadow banking crisis led to a funding squeeze, crushing debt-laden businesses that were critically dependent on rollover financing.
“Life has come a full circle for tycoons that had enjoyed debt-fueled growth,” said Nirmal Gangwal, founder of distress and debt restructuring advisory firm Brescon & Allied Partners LLP. “Many firms collapsed like a house of cards. The downfall was rather unprecedented.”
The government has also been cracking down on economic crime to assuage public anger over absconding businessmen. It’s even barred some from traveling overseas if they were deemed a flight risk.
Here are some of the country’s biggest and most-storied businessmen who saw their fortunes fade. Spokespersons for none of these tycoons, except Essar, immediately replied to emails and text messages seeking comments.
Anil Ambani
The chairman of Reliance Group, which makes movies to metro lines, had a close shave with jail time in March before his elder brother and Asia’s richest man, Mukesh Ambani, bailed him out at the last minute. The woes of the ex-billionaire came to the fore when India’s top court asked him to pay Ericsson AB’s India unit about $77 million of past dues or go to jail since Anil Ambani, 60, had given a personal guarantee. His telecom carrier slipped into insolvency this year, while unprofitable Reliance Naval & Engineering Ltd. faced a cash crunch. Reliance Capital Ltd. is selling assets to pare debt. Ambani is also fending off Chinese lenders in a London court.
Malvinder & Shivinder Singh
Karma caught up with ex-billionaires and brothers Malvinder Singh, 47, and Shivinder Singh, 44, and how. Scions of a prominent business family, they once helmed India’s top drug maker and second-largest hospital chain. In October, the two were arrested on charges of fraudulently diverting nearly $337 million from a lender they controlled. India’s market regulator found in 2018 that the brothers had defrauded their hospital company of about $56 million. The collapse of the $2 billion empire turned brother against brother, prompting their mother to broker a peace deal that was short-lived. In February, Malvinder accused Shivinder and their spiritual guru of fraud.
Shashikant & Ravikant Ruia
After a hard-fought battle to keep their flagship steel mill, the first-generation entrepreneurs finally saw the bankrupt Essar Steel India Ltd. pass on to ArcelorMittal last month. The $5.9 billion takeover was almost two years in the making with multiple legal wrangles. The group, controlled by Shashikant Ruia, 76, and Ravikant Ruia, 70, were also reprimanded by a U.K. judge in March this year for concealing documents. Started in 1969 as a construction firm, Essar Group diversified, investing about $18 billion between 2008 and 2012, and piled on debt. In 2017, the group had sold another prized asset, Essar Oil.
Selling an asset to pare a liability shouldn’t be seen as a “lost asset,” an Essar spokesman said, adding that the group remains a diversified conglomerate.
VG Siddhartha
Before jumping off a bridge into a river in July in an apparent suicide, the founder of India’s biggest coffee chain Cafe Coffee Day had penned a letter that spoke of pressure from lenders, a private equity firm and harassment by tax officials. He had spent much of the last two years pledging ever more of Coffee Day Enterprises Ltd. shares to refinance loans for ever shorter periods, at ever higher interest rates. “I would like to say I gave it my all,” V.G. Siddhartha, 60, wrote in the letter. “I fought for a long time but today I gave up.”
Naresh Goyal
The former ticketing agent who built India’s largest airline by value, stepped down as chairman of Jet Airways India Ltd. in March, caving in to pressure from banks who took over the company. Cut-throat price wars and surging costs pushed Jet deeper into loss. The airline stopped flying in April and went into bankruptcy two months later as lenders failed to find a buyer. In July, an Indian court barred Naresh Goyal from flying overseas after the government said it was investigating an alleged $2.6 billion fraud involving Jet Airways.
Rana Kapoor
The founder of Yes Bank Ltd., which became India’s fourth-largest non-state lender, tweeted in September 2018 that his shares were invaluable and requested his children never to sell them upon inheritance. But trouble was brewing. The nation’s banking regulator, which found the lender had repeatedly under-reported its bad loans, refused to extend his tenure as chief executive officer. This forced Rana Kapoor, 62, to step down by end-January. Kapoor, who has pledged some of his Yes Bank shares in July, sold almost his entire stake in the lender by October.
Subhash Chandra
The rice trader-turned-media mogul, 69, who brought cable television into Indian homes in the early 1990s with his ZEE TV, resigned as chairman of Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd. in November and lost control of his crown jewel. Subhash Chandra has been selling stake in Zee Entertainment in the past few months to repay group’s debt.
Gautam Thapar
A default by Gautam Thapar, founder of the paper mill-to-power transmission Avantha Group, on pledged shares made Yes Bank Ltd. the biggest shareholder in CG Power and Industrial Solutions Ltd. In August, the firm was hit by an accounting scandal forcing the board to remove Thapar, 59, from the chairman’s post. A month later, the market regulator ordered a forensic audit of the firm and barred Thapar from accessing securities market.
Comments
They were all about to release soon....what was the necessary to Jail break.....Naren Mukli burnole Gathi
Abdullah who are u to tell me to move my language ? You are the follower of an uneducated
Hey Bopa mind your language.
For your religion the name was given by Muslim Arabs.
There is no name and no history for your religion. all are dirty stories only.
It contains Rape, murder, illegal children, war, father dont know his own kid, God dont know his own kid, God dont know his wife pure or not, wife killing his husband who run and go inside the ass of a bull(hahahaha), Homo sexuality, etc, etc......
They are innocent. Fear the wrath if god
They are our enemies and not innocent. police.
I can see a lot of Muslims comments here are as if they are Pepsi ed by the death of these fools. Did they think about the poor policeman whom they killed before jail breaking ?
If I had the power I would ensure that the bodies of these 8
B***ards are cremated after dipping them in pig fat
Very happy to note this. Well deserved 72 virgins ....
Is Allah stepping up \virgin\" production because more of you want to join ISIS ?"
Abu Mohammad can i also add that a 53 year old old man taped a 6 year old Little girl ?
Also who told you guys that KSA is a Muslim country ?
I am a citizen of the free world and consider all countries to be non-Islamic (I.e. HUMAN )
Superb macha rajesha ...correct agi helidiya guru ....no mercy and no sentiments for those people who say religion first And nation next and back stab our nation and misuse democracy for their advantage ...look at the sympathisers for terrorists. ..no wonder isi has strong base in India ...namak harams are in large no ... Haha ...namak harams yaaru Ntha helale bekilla ....we can easily make out ...when innocent rudresh ( not even a single case against him) was killed ...jihadist third rated guys rejoiced....jai Sri ram ....bholo Bharath mata ki jai ...we will have 2 pegs extra ....kushi na tadiyakke agtha illa. ...
Wow superb .....elree faizhal Bhai ..banree Johnny Walker haaksana ...haha ...encounter made my day ...blood thirsty Islamic millitants who back stabbed India got encountered ...hodeerappa tamte...dankanaka dankanaka ....whether it is fake or genuine we don't give damn for jihadist Muslims death ....zero tolerance for Islamic militants is must . Israel style we need to enact ....perfect execution.....hara hara modi ...jai jai modi ....once bjp govt comes overthrowing khan grace govt ....we will ensure terrorists pays same price ....how can we forget the killings of nationalist Indians by Islamic militants ....bholo Bharath mata ki jai ...jihadigala Bali haakida Veera police rige jai ....Bali padyami dina entha subha samachara ....long live bjp ...long live Israel and India relationship ....I heard 45 rounds were fired ...50rs x45 2250rs ..very good deal ...tax payer money saved ....
Inna lillahi wainna ilahi rajioon... May Allah grant them Jannah if they are really innocents...
No doubt, its pre planned MURDER not encounter...
Saffron police have to answer below questions
1. Is only one police there to guard them? where are the other police?
2. Why only these 8 person escaped from Jail?
3. How they used bed sheet to cross high wall?
4. How is it possible that they were made encounter on same spot all together?
5. If any person throw stones at police then encounter will be solution?
Purely this police have pre planned to make murder of Muslims... We cannot call him as terrorists because till now no court has proved their status to terror activities... Because of saffron police & politicians these innocents were fixed purposefully to make drama.... For above case need probe against the police who made this murder & if he found guilty then he should be hanged without any delay.....
May Allah protect innocent muslims who are arrested in false cases...
Well planned Surgical encounter.....
as per Mr. Parikker' (Defense Minister) previous certificate to RSS will take response ...
Ache din once again....
planned encounter!!!
Unanswered questions:
1. 8 so called \SIMI\" members was in one cell which is against protocol.
2.Before sunset all cell must be close and key should be at jail office, how come they came out of jail?
3.Highly secured jail got only 1 officer to monitor and only 1 officer got attacked? Prisoners can broke jail by attacking one officer??????
4.Once broke the jail, other prisoners were quiet while they were moving around..!
5. Highly secured jail doesn't have CCTV and only 1 officer to monitor?
6.Using spoon as weapon they came out of cell and killed officer..!
7. Why Police kills those 8 members even after they are unarmed? If they had arms who gave them within hour? How they got sports shoe and well cloths? Why don't shot on leg when they are unarmed?
8.If they are dangerous terrorist or criminals, they would have spread different way when free bird.
LKG students also can guess this is well scripted and well planned murder by Police to divert Vyapam and Failure of Govt."
@Rajesh
Even a lay man would say its totally a fake encounter. No need to celebetate. The communal govt has did it on the eve of deepavali. Very simple to understand.
Anything can happen when people who are responsible for murdering thousands i
Scripted encounter.
Sure. Planned Encounter..
Mashallah ... what a shot so 72x8 virgins please book for this guys ...:) hip hip hurray ... kindly enlighten us who allots babes in heaven :) not a loss for nation . so party time as muslim terrorists were killed . kudos to police for saving tax payers money .
#20 Ahmed, Al ain
Dear Ahmed
How much funds you have received from Sangh Parivar to post this comment ? Either you are an agent of RSS or with fake name posted the comment. Before commenting on Wahabi's try to study about Wahabis.
Bopanna.... when you feel Muslims are totally ungrateful wretches. then why are you eating the income of a muslim country and feeding your wife and children with that criminal income .... Why cant you leave saudi and serve the Indian army and feed the PAPI PET ( stomach ) of yourself, wife and children with dignified income by serving the army.....shame on you for the sake of hunger, you are ready to have any shit .....
Innalillhiwainnailahirajoon God will punish those who are guilty
Mandeyalli Bondillada Bopanna - Vishnu raped Tulasi Devi, was he a Muslim? Krishna raped 16,108 girls was he a Muslim? 5 Pandavas repeatedly raped Draupadi at the behest of Krishna - were they Muslims? Brahma raped his own daughter Saraswati - Was he a Muslim? Kunti Devi was raped by SURYA, YAMA, VAYU, INDRA were they Muslims? Madri was raped by ASHWINIS - were they Muslims? Vishnu was raped by Shiva to produce Ayyappa - homosexuals having a child- Hollywood too cant imagine this ...the list is endless....
Well done.. they killed innocent in the early morning. So this is totally acceptable ..NIA please go after PFI leaders and KFD .becoz of these groups fringe groups associated with sangh parivar unleash terror against innocent Muslims. Time has come to take firm action against PFI, KFD and other wahabist backed organisations.
For sure it is a pre planed act from police. What is the need of killing all 8 ? Did they counter attacked police with Guns? If not then what was the need to kill all? There is something behind this story.
There is no doubt, this is a planned murder. May Allah forgive the sin of all the eight brothers and bestow them Jannah In sha Allah.
This is 2016 and all can understand what is reality and what is drama.. Bopu what are you doing in KSA? YOu should join armed forces here instead of having bread and butter from the one who u hate..
No Doubt, fake encounter. Elections coming up in northern states. When surgical strikes drama subsides, we have this new story diverting people's attention from real issues.
CD, should be faster in updating its news . According to other news channels, it is claimed that these eight SIMI members were trying to ATTACK THE ARMED FORCES WITH SPOONS..!! Yes, you read it right with - SPOONS !
There a Rabid Sanghis in the comments section. Do not pay heed or respond.
cold blood murder. total 8+1 .
well planned drama. if properly investigated the truth will come out. truth ??? it is not possible??? in RSS controlled state.???
need supreme court to investigate the truth.
need to investigate by our ex judges like Mr. Santosh Hegde.
Bopanna had some bad experience while he is residing in K.S.A. He said something bad about muslims community because he was the victim of rape. Muslims raped him, killed him and pillaged his property. That was the reason for his frustration.
Only so called SIMI members got chance to escape highly secured Jail..!
Those don't have charges, will die in encounter. Those who are real terror like Aseemananda, Sadhvi gets bail.
Failure of Govt. cover up by scripted sensational news as gift of Diwali.
In Hyderabad also did the same last year prisoners died with hand cuff \ severe fight between Police and alleged terrorist in Police van\".
It happens when Encounter specialists ruling our country."
Bopanna defines Islam is the religion of peace and the way of life and he accepted that there are black sheeps in the community.. Being residing in saudi arabia he learn a lot about Islam. Hope he will practice more and one day he hill embrace it. May Allah give him hidayah.
Why muslims are being encountered.....there are many rss terrorists are in jail....why no encounter....strange....well planned....
Another Fake encounter................why to kill? because they were Muslims.......all these encounters are to Hide VYAPAM Scam.......
Ashwin........8 Muslims Escaped from Jail ......and thousand Fake Hindutwa Terrorists are happy ....
As per Muslims, terrorism has no religion. So why muzzies here are crying for them?
Well planed encounter, bopanna islam is the only way of life and peace,,,, study well, if you do not study you will be like bopal police, black heart and join hands with rss..
To complete the DRAMA 8 + 1 innocents were eliminated while real Terrorists are ruling the country.
this sounds strange to me . this is a plot where they were told to run and shot at them. we muslims are ready to die, any how we have to die today or tomorrow, if they are killed for false charges then they are martyrs.
and to Bopanna you are living in a muslim country did any muslim arabs kill any one for the sake of hindu religion. dont just bark like a dog
All hate speeches are given by your so called leaders of BD and VHP.
Total Conspiracy!!!
This is a planned Encounter, 100%
This has to happen one day when innocents are framed detained and languish for years without trials. On the other hand convicted terrorists like aseemanand, sadhvi, prohit and other gujarat 2002 murderers supposedly to be hanged by this time are either acquitting, getting bail from their respective BJP ruled states.
True followers of the Religion of \Peace\" indeed.
But the definition of \"Peace\" is this :\"Strike terror in the hearts of the Unbelievers....\"
Kill the Unbelievers (Hindus).
Rape the Unbelievers (Hindus)
Pillage their property
In short, Muslims are totally ungrateful wretches."
8 MUSLIM terrorists escaped from jail..
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